History

Christine Kono, having worked as a dancer with, among others, George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Eliot Feld and Kurt Jooss, met in 1992 at Pina Bausch‘s Wuppertaler Tanztheater, the poet Dimitris Kraniotis formed as a dancer by Jerome Andrews in Paris. Since then, their shared conviction to the adventure of dance has led them to an intensive research on the fundamentals of movement. They have created the Collective Ludwig.

In 1999, Christine Kono and Dimitris Kraniotis met David Kern and Thomas McManus (formerly of Ballet Frankfurt). Together they taught seminars based on technique, improvisation, and composition. As a result, ever since then, they continue their research and give each other feedback as dancers, teachers, and choreographers.

In 2000, Paolo Rudelli, a free-lance dancer and multi-media artist, began to follow the teachings of Christine Kono and Dimitris Kraniotis. Since then he has joined their research. He also made the dance film The Seventh Day about their work.

In 2002, Augusto Pavanel, painter and scenographer, began a series of collaborations with the collective.

Bruno Glorel, musician and actor, joined the collective for the events:Impromptus, 2006 and Nothing always returns, 2009Since the beginning of Collective Ludwig, the following dancers have also participated in the creative research:

The aim of the collective is to stimulate and encourage a way to compose which appreciates the ephemeralquality of dance and supports the vitality of the instant of creation.

Dancers in the collective are always working to be in tune with both their bodies and creative imagination.They are continuously developing their own vocabulary or "deep dance" in order to increase their ability toperceive themselves as well as their relationship with everything and everyone in the space at every moment.This requires an undeterminable amount of exchange, observation and discussion. This process is the key tothe research.

Once the movements begin to speak, the common theme of a possible event/performance begin also to appear.At one point, the goal becomes evident: The atmosphere or statement to be created becomes clear. Accordingto the goal, the team finds a way of spontaneous composition which supports the creative spirit of each member.

This way of presentation enables the public to witness the actual process of creation first-hand…The participants are not reproducing/repeating what has happened before. The paths to the goal are not fixedbut are determined by the situation at every moment. There is a definite difference in the vitality of a presentationif people are recalling what happened before or if they are creating on-the-spot. The alertness which ensues fromsuch an art of composition thus encourages the development of an attentive and aperceptive dance audience.